The challenge of this competition, launched by Dartagnans in 2020, was to design a tree house (Mod. 1) and a house among trees (Mod. 2) to be placed in two sites in Western France. The sites consist of rural areas where important castle ruins are located. The Tree House Module (Mod. 1) would be located in Vibrac and the Module Among Trees (2) would be located in Mother Chandeniers.
CONCEPT
The beauty of a ruin lies in its incompleteness. It awakens the imagination by engaging us in mentally putting the parts together to complete the whole. Once the whole is complete, we can start building our own stories of the past.
The concept for the Tree House Modules is inspired by the beauty of the French ruins. A traditional tree house already shares with them the fact of being invaded by vegetation. To reinforce that similarity, the two modules play with the idea of mentally completing the fundamental shape of a house. Layers of reflexive shingles interspersed with opaque wooden ones give the impression of missing pieces, playing with the Gestalt principle of closure. At night, the reexive material becomes transparent, revealing the missing parts and creating an unexpected glowing effect.
The new modules do not intend to compete with the existing ruins, but to be humble towards them and play the role of observers. The placement of the houses on site is a consequence of this attitude, favoring the view to the landscape and to the ruins.
The beauty of a ruin lies in its incompleteness. It awakens the imagination by engaging us in mentally putting the parts together to complete the whole. Once the whole is complete, we can start building our own stories of the past.
The concept for the Tree House Modules is inspired by the beauty of the French ruins. A traditional tree house already shares with them the fact of being invaded by vegetation. To reinforce that similarity, the two modules play with the idea of mentally completing the fundamental shape of a house. Layers of reflexive shingles interspersed with opaque wooden ones give the impression of missing pieces, playing with the Gestalt principle of closure. At night, the reexive material becomes transparent, revealing the missing parts and creating an unexpected glowing effect.
The new modules do not intend to compete with the existing ruins, but to be humble towards them and play the role of observers. The placement of the houses on site is a consequence of this attitude, favoring the view to the landscape and to the ruins.
Section GIF Module 1
Nighttime view of Module 2
